Sony OLED TVs put on hold in favour of 4K LED, report suggests

Sony OLED TV production has reportedly been put on hold in order to focus on 4K LCD TV development.

According to a new report from Japanese news site Nikkei, Sony has put commercial development of OLED TVs on hold so the company can further develop its 4K UHD LCD TV range.

Apparently Sony doesn’t see consumer demand for OLED TVs taking off in the near future, but has already seen its 4K LCD range start making revenue.

By focusing on the increasingly popularity of its 4K LCD range rather than OLED, Sony believes its TV business could start making money for the first time in 11 years this financial year.

Sony is heading the 4K market at the moment across the globe, with its UHD range accounting for over 20 per cent of the total 2013 shipments.

Rumour has it Sony will release eight 4K LCD models this summer, doubling that launched last year. The aim is to quadruple 4K sales this fiscal year and that around 40 – 50 per cent of Sony’s large screen TV line-up is of 4K panels.

Last year the 4K LCD TVs only accounted for 10 – 20 per cent of Sony’s entire TV range.

The team responsible for OLED panels will apparently be reassigned elsewhere within Sony’s businesses, including 4K related products.

That’s not to say OLED isn’t a promising TV technology though, as the panels feature clear pictures and fast response times. These attractive properties are why Sony continued OLED development after its Panasonic collaboration finished at the end of 2013.

In order to help boost TV revenue, Sony also plans to slash labour expenses for consumer products by 20 per cent, but it is not clear yet how this will be done.